How To Teach Your Child to Read

My 4th child is learning to read and I am trying a different method than I used with my older 3 children and it is working great!

I wish I'd used this program with my 3rd child as I think it would help him now reading harder books to be better at sounding out long, unfamiliar words he comes across.

The book is Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons.



I'm on lesson 40 right now with my 5 year old pre-kindergarten daughter who was adopted from Ethiopia at age 3 and began speaking English less than 2 years ago.  And get this, SHE IS READING!  Really, really reading! Sentences!  Words like "the" and "fast" and "she" and "feel"!

Honestly, I am truly amazed!  I began this book with Little Girl this year before she goes to kindergarten next year because I was worried reading would be a struggle for her only having been exposed to the English language for 2 years.  And I've watched public kindergarten get harder with more expectations even since my now 5th grader went through to what I saw expected of my son who was in kindergarten last year.  I don't completely agree with the rigor that has been added to kindergarten, but overall our local public school has been excellent for my older 3 kids so I do my best to help my kids rise to the expectations they'll have in kindergarten.  Also, it helps that I LOVE our kindergarten teacher.  The same teacher taught my older 3 kids and I love her teaching style and the way she interacts with the kids. 

Each lesson in this Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons book only takes about 15-20 minutes and really it is a sweet one-on-one time with my Little Girl each afternoon after her preschool and while the big kids are still at school.  She enjoys the lessons and reminds me we need to "work on my reading!"  I got a bunch of those gold, silver, green, blue, and red foil stars and I let her pick a star after she finishes a lesson and put it on a chart we made to show her progress through the lessons.

The lessons can be a little monotonous for you as the parent because the book wants you to follow each step exactly and tells you word for word what to say as you walk your child through the activities.  But, it works and it takes all the thinking out of the deal for you, which is nice when you are frazzled on a busy day!

I like that the book focuses a lot on letter sounds and sounding out words, sight words only get you so far and understanding phonics helps with spelling later.  Also, I like that the book includes a reading comprehension section where the child sounds out words in a short story and then you ask them questions about what they just read.  And there is a writing aspect, too, at the end of each lesson where the child practices 2 different letters.

We are not through with this curriculum, but even if I stopped now at lesson 40, I am a happy customer and believe this is a wonderful method to teach your child to read!

Find more Works for Me Wednesday here.

***I was not compensated in any way to endorse this book.  I am an Amazon.com affiliate and will earn a small percentage of the sale should you make a purchase using my link.  I only recommend products I have truly used and loved.***

The Race To Christmas

The race is on. 

Christmas is 23 days away!

Oh, the frenzy!

It ALL must be done and bought and opened and baked and eaten and experienced!

Until the big day is over, chopped down and hauled off, like our Christmas tree at the farm yesterday.

But, wait!

What is Christmas all about?

Matthew 1:21, "She will bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save his people from their sins."

God sent His Son into the world as a baby to suffer and die for our sins so that we might be saved!

Jesus, the King and Savior of the world was born in a stable and laid in a manger.  What a different scene from the glitz and gild of a department store display!

Each year we as a family are mindful to celebrate the real meaning of Christmas, but this year we're also slowing down, pulling more out of the race, declining some Christmas party invitations, so there will be more time for Christ to fill our Christmas.

"When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy."  Matthew 2:10

The Last Pine Cone Turkey

When my 5 year old daughter brought home a pine cone turkey from preschool last week, very similar to the pine cone turkey one of my 4 children has brought home from preschool at Thanksgiving time for the past 8 years, I sniffled a bit realizing this may be the last one!  The last pine cone turkey!

They don't seem to make them in elementary school, at least not the elementary school my older 3 kids attend and where Little Girl will go next year.

There are so many aspects of raising children that have been mainstays in our life for so many years now, having 4 children one right after the other.  Things like strollers were just part of life, nearly anywhere we went we needed a stroller, the question was just which one -- the single, the double, the jogger?  And then they were gone.  Just like that!  We never use a stroller anymore!

But, the strollers I don't really miss (except occasionally as a place to stash a bag and not have to carry it) -- good riddance, life is easier without you!   The pine cone turkey, however, will be missed!

Can you spell "cornucopia"?

My 3rd grader's spelling words this week:

I love the Thanksgiving themed words, but just being honest here, I had no idea that was how you spelled "cornucopia"!

___________________________

We got to preschool early one day this week.  I know, I was surprised, too!

Little Girl used the extra few minutes before school started to crawl around exploring every inch of the car.  She found the sunglasses she hadn't seen in months and was delighted!  And now, it's all about the sunglasses!  In fact she insists on wearing them right up to the door of her preschool class and only then will she take them off and hand them to me to "keep safe" while she is at school.

Ever wonder what it would be like living with a rock star?

I think like I kind of know what that feels like.  We certainly have the drama and attitude down, good thing there is all the cute as well!

 ___________________________

It's Friday and my house is a mess, so that's all for today.

Happy Friday, Friends!

Find more Friday Fragments here.

Grace For Those Days

Originally published November 2012:

It was one of those days.  You know, THOSE days.  The kind where you are just done, DONE by 7pm.  The kind of days as a mother when you see your children less as the precious, adorable gifts that they are, and more as the most annoying people on earth.  The kind of day when there was such a string of frustrating events that you just want to get in bed and pull the covers up over your head, but you can't, because there are four children to put to bed and your husband is working late or out of town.

Somehow we made it through baths and pajamas and teeth brushing and lotion.  I was short with everyone, impatient, and just no fun at all.  Whereas many days I might delight in their stories and antics, today it all just brought irritation.  I could not wait to get them in bed!  But first it was storytime and Little Girl reached to pick a book from the 3rd shelf, the one with the longer books, "No, pick one from the bottom shelf."  I quickly corrected.  The bottom shelf has the board books, the super short, one sentence per page with a total of 8 to 10 pages.  

I read too fast, hastily turned off the light, started her music, and settled Little Girl in my lap with her blanket to rock for a few minutes.  On this night there were no feelings of awe or thankfulness for this little girl who we were desperately trying to bring home from Ethiopia this time last year.  I just wanted her to go to sleep.

I said a very quick prayer and then she asked, "Can I pray?"  I sighed way too audibly.  I mean wasn't it just a stall tactic?  But a very advanced tactic for a 4 year old because who can deny a child who asks to pray?  

"Go ahead" I said wearily.  

And she prays (she used her own name in the place of "Little Girl" but since I don't share my kids real names on this blog, I'm substituting), "Dear God, thank you that Little Girl is so happy in her family."

And suddenly I can't breathe.  God's mercy and grace pouring down.  She prayed thanking God that she is so happy in her family!

"Oh Lord, I don't deserve this!"  Really, I don't.  I deserve her to pray, "God, next time please give me a nicer Mommy."  That's what I deserve.

It's why I cringe when people tell my husband and me how great we are for adopting Little Girl.  Because we are not great.  It is God who is great.  Our Little Girl is thriving despite us.  God did that.  He set her in our family and He is an amazing healer and creator of families!  We fail so many times in so many ways, like on my "choose a book from the short-book shelf" night.  We run out of energy and patience and thankfulness and get caught up in our own selfishness.  But, God?  He is good.  All the time.  Even on THOSE days.  Especially on THOSE days.

A Cure for the Uneaten Lunch

There is nothing quite like the experience as a mother of carefully packing a homemade lunch at 7am, sending it off to school with your little darling, and then having the exact same lunch return to you pretty much untouched at 3:15pm to make you feel like your work is in vain!

Over the past 6 years of having a kid in elementary school and now with 3 of them there, all my kids have gone through phases of not eating their lunches.  I've tried everything from polling them about what they would eat in their lunch, to going to eat lunch with them to observe just why they are not eating their lunch (their complaint of not enough time I observed to be just too much talking and playing with their neighbor in the lunchroom and not enough eating!), to even threatening that they were going to have to start buying the cafeteria food for lunch!

Mostly, I have happened upon some combinations of lunches that they will eat and I feel are healthy enough.  But, really nothing has quite addressed the problem as efficiently as our newest solution.

At the beginning of the month, my husband let the kids know it was now their job to clean out their lunchbox in the afternoon or evening.  Before they were just required to put their lunchboxes by the sink and he cleaned them out when he did the dinner dishes.

His motivation was transferring some work to them but the added benefit is best summed up by what my 6 year old said (who is currently my worst not-eating-his-lunch offender), "Now I try to eat all my lunch at school.  Do you know why?  Because that way it makes it easier to clean out my lunchbox!"

Of course!  It is just that simple!  Why didn't we think of this before?!!!

Here's that little guy cleaning out his lunch box before bed:

Find more Works for Me Wednesday here.

We Survived Family Pictures!

Every year since my 3 oldest children were 4 years, 2 years, and 5 months old, we've done a family photo session with a professional photographer (so 6 years now), where we meet her at an outside location and she shoots tons of pictures over an hour time period and later sends us electronic copies of the 30-40 best pictures to print and reprint and use however we want forever.

It is not cheap, but even me with my frugal tendencies can say those pictures are SO worth it!

I treasure the really great quality photos of my kids from those professional photographer sessions.  I love that I have captured in beautiful pictures these years when they are growing up so fast!

Just look at them from the 1st session in 2007:

Oh my heart!  Where have my babies gone??

Sadly, two years ago the photographer we'd been using and loved moved over seas.  I half debated flying to Europe to get our family pictures taken because she was just that good and had such a sweet way of interacting with my kids and getting good smiles out of them.

But, happily we did find a wonderful new local photographer who took our pictures last year and again today.  She, too, takes beautiful pictures and makes the sessions pretty stress-free.  She's a mom of 2 kids close to my kids' ages and so she's realistic about what to expect from kids.  I have some stories about those mall photographers and photo sessions with my oldest when he was a toddler -- not good, at all!

Here's a sneak peek from today and our urban shoot in front of some abandoned old businesses (my husband snapped these photos with his phone):

Here the photographer is talking to my 8 year about the pose:

She said, "Give me some sass":

That daughter has to be coached to add the attitude, but Little Girl (my 5 year old daughter) has it built-in and didn't need much coaching, "Wow, she is a natural!"  the photographer commented.

Of course, there was a bit of time she was taking some pictures of the kids and they were getting tired of the whole thing and she was trying to get them hugging each other and one ended up hugging so hard another fell over and there was some fussing.  The photographer just kept snapping pictures saying "how cute" the kids were and I was laughing at the ridiculousness of it and told her, "Good thing there is no audio to these pictures!!"

But we survived another year of family pictures, and I can't wait to see what the photographer captured!

Really the biggest marvel is probably that the photographer survived our family of 6!